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Thursday, July 19, 2012

“Serenity Soon” Glitter Bottles

I wish I had thought of these, but, alas, I found them on Pinterest. They originally were designed to be bottles to help kids learn to center themselves and meditate, but they’ll be perfect for my hooligans as “serenity soon” bottles. For the littler ones, it takes about 5 minutes for the glitter to settle, so they act as a timer for timeouts and give them time to calm down as they watch the glitter.

For the oldest, who has ADHD and mild Aspergers, they function to relax his mind and allow him to focus. All for a few bucks. Of course, the hubs and I also find them calming…kind of like watching an aquarium filled with fish, I guess.

The blue one just started settling, the green is done, and the pink is about halfway there.

In the clean bottle, put the glitter and glitter glue, along with a bit (1 Tbsp or so) clear gel glue. Heat about 2-1/2 cups water in measuring cup in microwave until very hot, but not boiling. Add that to the bottle, and shake it like a madwoman until the glitter glue is no longer clumpy. You’ll see what I mean.

Time it when you’re done to see how long it takes to settle. The blue and green ones take about 6-1/2 minutes and the pink one only about four. That’s perfect for my kids’ ages. The more clear gel glue you add, the longer it takes.

When you’re happy with the time, use the E6000 to glue the lid on. You don’t want sticky, glittery kids when they manage to open it, do you?

Also, the pink was more expensive glitter glue (because Walmart was out of pink) from the craft store and was much harder to blend. So in this case, the cheaper, the better. I think the dollar store has glitter glue, but didn’t have the fortitude to go there with three kids.

This would make a fabulous moms’ group craft, I think. Counting the bottled water, the cost is about $4, but that’s because my glitter glue was $2 each. The SmartWater is important because they are the only completely smooth bottles.

The hooligans are completely fascinated with these, so much so that I called them Relaxation Bottles rather than Time Out bottles so they wouldn’t be trying for timeouts to get to play with them!